Two Asian students who were thrown off a plane because passengers thought they were terrorists yesterday demanded an apology from the airline involved for bowing to hysteria.

Sohail Ashraf and his friend Khurram Zeb, both 22, believe Monarch Airlines was wrong to remove them from flight ZB 613 from Malaga to Manchester because they had cleared all the security checks before boarding the passenger jet.

Speaking to the Guardian, the two students said the Spanish authorities had expressed their frustration and concern over their eviction from the jet last week. Mr Zeb said it was the Monarch pilot who had ordered him and his friend off the plane, after several passengers expressed concern when they boarded.

The men, who first revealed details of their ordeal to the Mirror, said they had spent £300 between them on a day trip to Malaga after a stressful few weeks sitting exams. The students, from the University of Manchester, said they had gone to the resort on a day trip to carry out a "recce" before a longer holiday later in the year.

Details of their ejection come as controversy continues over suggestions that Asians should be targeted in security checks at airports.

Mr Ashraf said the airline had allowed the passengers to dictate what took place. From the moment he boarded the Airbus last Wednesday he noticed other passengers staring at him. "I felt angry at first - I knew why they were staring at us, it was because we are Muslim."

"We sat down and talked while we waited to take off," said Mr Zeb. But passengers who overheard them mistook Urdu for Arabic. One elderly woman approached the cabin crew. Soon she was followed by about eight passengers, who headed for the exits.

Mr Zeb said: "While this was going on the captain came down to us and told us he needed to talk to us. He took us to the entrance of the plane and it was there we saw a policeman carrying a gun. The captain said: 'Sorry guys I can't let you fly, these people [the Spanish police] want to question you about something'."

They did not object, and left the plane escorted by armed Spanish police. "But when we spoke to the Spanish authorities they said they did not need to talk to us. They explained several passengers had raised suspicions about us. Someone had said they had seen us earlier with a briefcase which later we did not have. Someone else had said we talked in Arabic. I can't even speak Arabic," said Mr Zeb.

"What I find most frustrating is that we went through all the security checks - we weren't carrying any hand luggage."

Mr Ashraf said they had asked Monarch to apologise, but to date they had received no apology.

"I can understand how people reacted," said Mr Zeb. "It is just that the airline went along with them."

The men flew home the next day. Monarch was not available for comment.